


count it as a blessing (that I'm only un poco loco)

by aletterinthenameofsanity



Series: even if it costs my life (I won't stop loving you) [3]
Category: Coco (2017)
Genre: Badass, Character Study, Chess, F/F, Families of Choice, Family Feels, Guerilla Warfare, Lesbian Character of Color, Memories, Post-Canon, Soldiers, War
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-17
Updated: 2018-02-17
Packaged: 2019-03-19 17:28:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,275
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13709229
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aletterinthenameofsanity/pseuds/aletterinthenameofsanity
Summary: When Héctor has his first performance, Victoria of course brings Lefstebany with her. Lefstebany spends half her time at the Riveras anyway- what's so loco about coming to the first performance of the man who is basically her abuelo-in-law?When Héctor begins to play his guitar, Victoria sees the way his bony fingers shake. She sees how uncertain he is, how a century of being rejected for the thing he once loved has dampened his excitement for his art.Despite her usual disdain for such frivolous activities, she is all too happy to let Rosita pull her and Lefstebany into a dance. She understands how Héctor, this century-old skeleton trapped in the body of a twenty-one-year-old, feels. She understands being rejected for what and who she loves.-Victoria will not let Ernesto De la Cruz hurt anyone in her family again.Lefstebany, who has seen the hurt that the Riveras have suffered, will protect her adopted familia with everything she has.Ernesto De la Cruz is never seen in the Marketplace or near the Rivera casa again.Victoria is proud to give her novia credit for this.(Aka: Victoria and Lefstebany are the most badass lesbian aunts/granddaughters/skeletons EVER)





	count it as a blessing (that I'm only un poco loco)

**Author's Note:**

> Title is from "Un Poco Loco" from Coco.
> 
> Also, I can't stop writing for this wonderful, fragile familia. The Riveras are just too awesome and complicated to stop writing for. Hope you guys love Victoria and Lefstebany as much as I do!

“I still can't believe I missed out on meeting your great nephew,” Lefstebany says as she moves her knight across the chess board. The first thing her _primos_ had put on the _ofrenda,_ she and Victoria have been playing with this chess set for years. “The one night I visit _mis primos._ ”

“ _Si,”_ Victoria agrees, “It was quite the wild night.”

“And your Papa Héctor, as well,” Lefstebany muses.

Lefstebany grew up in the 1950s and went to college in the 60s. There, she had fought as a guerilla fighter in the Dirty War. She had died, tortured by government soldiers, in ‘71.

Lefstebany Nina Monserrat Costello wears pants, boots (Rivera-made, of course), and a button-down shirt, which constantly scandalizes Mama Imelda and Tia Rosita’s _amigas._ Victoria doesn't care, however. Lefstebany’s a fantastic soldier, a kind woman, and also a _great_ kisser, especially for a skeleton. She can wear whatever she damn wants.

“Well,” Victoria says as she moves her bishop, “You want to meet him?”

The two of them have been together for nearly 30 years, now. (1988 was their first date, to be exact.) Lefstebany knows all too well the history of the Rivera _familia_ and their resentment of their scorned patriarch. All she's ever known about Héctor is his abandonment of Mama Imelda and Coco, and Lefstebany has always looked up to Mama Imelda as much as Victoria has.

The revelation of the truth of Héctor's past hit her as hard as it hit Victoria, who also idolized Mama Imelda. The idea that this man they have hated for decades had been trying to return to his wife for a century, had been stopped from returning to his _familia_ by betrayal and murder by his best friend- it hits hard for both of them.

Lefstebany chuckles. “Of course I do,” she says, shifting one of her rooks over three squares, “How could I pass up meeting the “ _amor de la Vida de Mama Imelda?””_

“A good _punto,”_ Victoria agrees, and moves her bishop. “Check.”

“ _Oye!”_ Lefstebany shouts as she squints at the board. “ _No es posible!”_

Victoria smirks. “You wish.”

\---

There is an oft forgotten rule to the Land of the Dead: as long as you are Remembered, your survival doesn't depend on whether those memories are good or bad. You can be the greatest villain the world has ever known, but as long as you are Remembered, you continue to exist.

Victoria knows this. She knows why families who truly want people gone don't pass down names, don't give names to the  _monstruos y pendejos_ that plague their  _familias._ Lefstebany's father, an abusive drunk, has already suffered the Final Death due to her being the last of his living relatives that remembered him. She never passed down his name, just the warnings of his  _pecados_ to her fellow  _guerillas._

Victoria knows that Ernesto De la Cruz will not Fade as long as the world knows that he is the one that murdered Héctor. Despite that bell falling on him, he will continue an existence in the world of the dead.

And Victoria _hates_ this.

She can't help but want Ernesto De la Cruz wiped from the face of the world. If he put her Abuelo through the hell of being Forgotten, he deserves the same thing. He deserves brittle, yellow bones, crushing despair, and the Final Death.

She takes pleasure in the fact that Ernesto will be shunned by everyone. She knows that a man who murdered his _amigo mejor_ for fame will feel no greater torture than everyone hating him.

She can't help but be happy with every day that her Abuelo’s bones get brighter, every crack that heals itself, every unpained smile. She knows that, despite the rules of infamous memories, people _will_ start to forget about Ernesto De la Cruz. Each healed bone on Papa Héctor's body corresponds to a shade of yellow on De la Cruz’s bones.

\---

 _When Héctor first met Victoria's_ novia, _Lefstebany Costello, he smiled. He was not able to stand to meet her due to being bedridden by fatigue, his bones too fragile to hold him, but he reached out a hand and shook her hand. “_ Es un placer, _Señorita Costello,” Héctor says, “I'm happy to finally meet Victoria's_ novia.”

 _When Victoria stares at him strangely, he asks, confused: “Why are you looking at me like that,_ mija _?”_

_“You're from the 1900s, Héctor,” Victoria says, “It normally takes people from your generation a bit longer to accept couples like us.”_

_“Jacobo Flores dated Tio Juan for decades before Juan faded away. Down in Shantytown, we were all being Forgotten. When you are Fading, there are very few things you judge people for. It is much more important to love people and enjoy your time existing than to worry about_ pecado. _”_

_Lefstebany stares at Héctor for a few more moments before smiling. “I was prepared to hate you, Señor,” she says, “But I thjnk I quite like you.”_

_“I hope that's a good thing, Señorita.”_

“Es muy bien, _Señor Hector.”_

\---

“I can't let either of them get hurt again,” Victoria tells Lefstebany a few days after Lefstebany meets Héctor for the first time, and her _novia_ nods.

“What do you want us to do about that?” Lefstebany asks as she mixes the  _arroz_ for their dinner.

“We make sure Ernesto De la Cruz never gets near them again,” Victoria says, lacing her metacarpals together.

Lefstebany raises the _arroz-_ covered spoon in the air. “You want me to go all _guerilla_ on De la Cruz and the last of his cronies, _si?”_

Victoria snorts. “I know you'll love it.”

“Tearing down the government? _Claro que si,_ I'm gonna love it. I think I'll even rope your Uncles into it.”

“We can't let Mama Imelda and Papa Héctor in on it, though.” Victoria wants her _abuelos_ to be happy, and the mention of Ernesto De la Cruz will not help with that.

"Understood,  _cariña_ ," Lefstebany says, "I don't wish any more pain toward your  _abuelitos_ than they've already experienced."

\---

Victoria will not let Ernesto De la Cruz hurt anyone in her family again.

Lefstebany, who has seen the hurt that the Riveras have suffered, will protect her adopted _familia_ with everything she has.

Ernesto De la Cruz is never seen in the Marketplace or near the Rivera _casa_ again.

Victoria is proud to give her  _novia,_ the soldier, credit for this.

\---

When Héctor has his first performance, Victoria of course brings Lefstebany with her. Lefstebany spends half her time at the Riveras anyway- what's so  _loco_ about coming to the first performance of the man who is basically her  _abuelo_ -in-law?

When Héctor begins to play his guitar, Victoria sees the way his bony fingers shake. She sees how uncertain he is, how a century of being rejected for the thing he once loved has dampened his excitement for his art.

Despite her usual disdain for such frivolous activities, she is all too happy to let Rosita pull her and Lefstebany into a dance. She understands how Héctor, this century-old skeleton trapped in the body of a twenty-one-year-old, feels. She understands being rejected for what and who she loves.

When Victoria dances, she is not just doing it for Tia Rosita, for her  _novia_ Lefstebany, or even for Héctor. She is doing it for herself, for the years she spent hating herself as much as she hated the Abuelo she thought destroyed her family.

When she sees Mama Imelda smile, Victoria feels hope well up inside her. Her  _familia_ is not in pain anymore, and neither is she.

Ernesto De la Cruz will never hurt them again.


End file.
